Mid-Autumn Festival fever has come and gone. Moon cakes were munched, fireworks were seen (if not heard) by all, and some of us indulged in karaoke as a bloodsport until the wee hours.

But before we could massacre the sweet tunes of Whitney Houston and Leslie Cheung, we popped by Platform China HK in Chai Wan’s Industrial City building, which opened its second space after Beijing only earlier this May.

Platform’s super passionate and helpful director, Claudia Albertini, kindly took us through the space in which she was showcasing the works of five Chinese artists — Jia Aili, Ma Ke, Qin Qi, Sun Xun, Zhou Yilun –in the latest exhibition, D for Drawing.

This jewel of a contemporary gallery packs a lot of punch with a creatively curated show of young talent. We immediately fell in love with a dark unsettling Ma Ke work and a hauntingly beautiful Jia Aili. Lining one wall were the works of 32 year old animator and printmaker Sun Xun. The prints (all sold!) were based on old Chinese films and called to mind Soviet propaganda posters. Each work we looked at in the show filled us with the excitement of discovering something new.

Chai Wan’s development reminds me of Beijing’s 798 district or Shanghai’s Moganshan Lu, with art studios and exciting new edgy galleries cropping up every month. It’s off the beaten path, but so much the better. There’s lots happening out there so it’s well worth the schlep.

If you need to kick your feet up after hours spent looking at art you can always drop in to Chaiwanese, also in Chai Wan Industrial City, for coffee and cake. Owned by art maven Jehan Chu, the cafe attracts an assortment of local artists and curators, so there’s no better place to hang out to get a feeling for what’s happening in the local Hong Kong art scene.

Platform China HK
Unit 601, Phase 1, Chai Wan Industrial City,
60 Wing Tai Road, Chai Wan, Hong Kong
T: +852 2523 8893

Chaiwanese
Unit 1307, Phase 1, Chai Wan Industrial City,
60 Wing Tai Road, Chai Wan, Hong Kong